After being told by the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) to wait as they took more time to decide whether West Ham United or Tottenham Hotspur would take over the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Olympics, the two clubs have finally gotten their OPLC executives' decision and it has gone in favor of the East London club. The OPLC executives have decided that West Ham will be the club to take over the stadium, allowing them to move from Upton Park after the Games and leaving Tottenham to reevaluate their plans for a new ground.
West Ham Beat Out Tottenham Hotspur For Olympic Stadium
The OPLC executives will present their decision to the OPLC board at a Friday meeting and the board is expected to support the executives’ decision. The government and London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, will also have to sign off on the OPLC’s decision, but it would be considered a massive shock if they didn’t confirm West Ham’s bid as the winner.
With two historic London clubs in the bidding for the stadium and financial windfall a 60,000 seat stadium would provide, the battle to take over the Olympic Stadium has been one of the most contentious and important storylines in the Premier League this season. Both clubs believe they need a more modern and larger ground than the ones they current play in, which seat 35,000 and 36,000 people respectively and are over 100 years old.
West Ham appeared to be the more popular bid between the two. The Hammers proposed to keep the athletics track and downsize the ground to 60,000, but keep the stadium intact for the most part. Tottenham, who teamed with entertainment giant AEG in the bid, proposed to tear the stadium down and build a new one in its place without an athletics track and a 60,000 seat capacity.
The athletics community favored keeping the track and honoring their commitment to an “Olympic legacy” so they were clearly in West Ham’s corner. Ministers and the mayor also acknowledged that spending public money to build the Olympic Stadium for the Games and then to allow Tottenham to tear it down for one of their own was bound to be unpopular.
Located in Stratford, the Olympic Stadium is in East London, roughly the same part of the city that West Ham already call home. On the flip side, Tottenham are a North London club and faced criticism from MP’s, observers and supporters who were upset that the club would leave Tottenham and their home in North London.
With the OPLC’s decision, Tottenham will be staying in Tottenham for the foreseeable future and forced to reevaluate their stadium plans. Their other plan, a new stadium right next to their current stadium, has been approved by the local board, but Spurs chairman Daniel levy has said recently that it is no longer an option. Meanwhile, West Ham have their new stadium in their East London home.
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